Spring Decluttering!

My friend Love2Learn Mom (who is not just a virtual friend but a real-life friend, too) inspired me today.

She has a great post on the joys of decluttering.

Decluttering -- otherwise known around here as "Throwing This Junk Out" -- is one of my favorite things.

And it's not just throwing stuff away, it's also packing things up to take to Goodwill or St Vincent de Paul, making up boxes of books to sell at the next homeschool group get-together or rummage sale, and getting more organized about the things that you really do need and want to keep.

My favorite decluttering mantra (mantras? mantrae? mantri??)

• "Clutter can't be organized." This is SUCH a good rule. I'm pretty sure it's from Flylady. No amount of clever shelving or great bins and boxes will keep true clutter organized. So when the craft closet is a complete mess again just a day after you organize it, there's clutter. When the plastic boxes of Barbies and their accessories is totally trashed two days after organizing it, there's clutter. Get rid of a bunch of it. How much?
  
  
• "40%". One of my second cousins says that we could all stand to get rid of 40% of our stuff and it would be a very good thing. I agree!
  

• "If it doesn't make you smile, it has to go." Another from Flylady. Do you have stuff that makes you feel guilty? I did. Curriculum materials I'd never used, or hadn't used in years. Books I hadn't read that I knew I never would. Craft projects I'd started but never finished. They all reproached me from the shelves. So, they're gone. You have to be brutal sometimes.
  

So, now I'm fired up to start decluttering some more. I did our craft room two days ago. The basement storage areas were done after Christmas. The garage desperately needs it but that will wait till the warm weather comes. IF it ever comes.

Maybe today I'll tackle the upstairs closets.

In honor of Love2Learn Mom, I've posted a little poll over on the sidebar. You only have till tomorrow to answer it!

This is a laundry emergency!

Remember when I wrote about Shout Color Catchers?

Well, a couple days ago somebody came to my blog from doing a search on this dreadful phrase:

"Shout Color Catchers Discontinued"

Nooooooooooooooooooooo!

That's exactly what I was afraid of! That's why I had that dopey Lemonade Stand on my site for awhile! That's why I practically begged all of you laundry-doing moms to go out and buy that product!

So now I live in fear that this rumor may be true.

If you don't believe me that this is a really great, truly worthwhile product that will save you lots of money in ruined clothes and lots of frustration as well as the embarrassment of everybody having pink undies, then just read these rave reviews. Eighteen of them, all five stars! OK, there's the one person who seems disgruntled but I don't get that at all.

So, please drop what you're doing, and right now, RIGHT NOW! run out to the store and buy as many of these as you can.

Thank you.

And you can thank me later.